The Road to Tax Returns for Side-Hustle Web Writers Part 4: I Worked Up the Courage to File a Business Opening Notification!

Good evening, this is OgAz.

To all sole proprietors, the season for tax returns has arrived (smile). I say that as if I'm an expert, but as someone who started as a side-hustle web writer last January, this is my first time filing a tax return. Sorry about that.

Being a timid person, I was terrified of being targeted by places with super scary images like the tax office or the National Tax Agency, so I started studying about tax returns quite early on. I outputted what I studied to note to organize it, and it became an article that received many likes. I have compiled them into a magazine, so please take a look if you are interested. Thank you to everyone who read it.

Well, regarding that tax return, according to the book I studied, it said to submit it to the tax office between 2/16 and 3/15, so I thought it was still a little further away. However, I happened to see an article that appeared in my "recommended" feed on note.

What did you say!!?

That is what happened. Wow, I learned something new.

So today, I have safelyfinished my tax return via e-Tax. Yay, clap clap clap. Since I have gone to the trouble of compiling know-how related to tax returns so far, I thought I should also include a "tried it out" series.

In this first installment of the tried-it-out series, I would like to summarizethe e-Tax registration and business opening notification submission that I did as a pre-step to the tax return. Please bear with me!

Blue is more profitable than white for tax returns!

As I wrote in a previous article, there are two types of tax returns: "white return" and "blue return," and it seems thatthe blue return is by far more profitable.

In order to file a blue return, you need tosubmit a "Business Opening Notification" to the tax office within one month of opening or between January 1st and March 15th. By the way, I started my web writer business as a side job last January, but I found out about this at the end of October. It's already too late.

Oh no, what should I do, what should I do. I was very shaken, but I thought there must be many people in the world who are as late as me, so I looked it up. What should I do if I'm late? Will I be scolded by the tax office people? No, you won't be scolded. However, it just means you can't use the profitable blue return that year.

So, I personally thought thatthe correct answer is to submit it as soon as you realize it. If you put it off, you'll forget about it. Since the deadline has passed, the income for that year will be filed as a white return instead of a blue return. I can use the blue return from next year! I'll make my blue return debut next year too!!

I tried filing a business opening notification!

On October 27th, when more than a month had passed since I started the business, I decided to take action because I had made up my mind. I thought I would definitely forget if I waited until January.

Encountering freee Kaigyo

When I searched for "Business Opening Notification," "freee Kaigyo" immediately caught my eye. It seems anyone can create documents like the Business Opening Notification for free.

The book I was using as a textbook to study for tax returns recommended the famous "Money Forward" and "Yayoi Kaikei" instead of freee. But after checking both, I chose freee. Why? BecauseI like birds (there is a bird in the logo). Well, that's a joke, but I thought the overall atmosphere of the site was friendly to beginners.

Tax-related topics are very difficult for people who don't usually deal with taxes. If technical terms keep popping up, you immediately get discouraged, and even if they explain things like "We'll support your business opening!", you just end up thinking, "Oh, never mind then." When I decided, "I want to file a Business Opening Notification!", I just wanted to go straight to the point. In that respect, freee was very direct and made a good impression on me. I prioritized my first impression, but honestly, it seems there isn't a huge difference between any of the services. I thought it's fine to just choose based on personal preference.

Documents completed just by answering questions!

To use freee Kaigyo, you first need to register an account. Once you set your email address and password and finish registering, you just proceed by answering questions, and the documents are completed in no time. "Created in as little as 5 minutes" is no exaggeration.

For the completed documents, you can choose between electronic filing via e-Tax or mailing them to the tax office. After printing the copy, it even showed the address of the tax office to stick on the envelope for mailing. Wow, how convenient!

Those who submit the Business Opening Notification by mail just need to stamp it in the designated place, attach the cut-out address label, and drop it in the mailbox. Easy!

Choosing electronic filing via smartphone

Since I have a My Number Card, I chose electronic filing via smartphone.

It seems this e-Tax was introduced in 2004, and I have a vague memory of seeing it on the news. The reputation at the time was very bad; I only heard negative things, such as it being difficult to use and requiring a special card reader to file. At the time, I thought I would never have to file a tax return in my life, so I just felt like, "That sounds tough."

Times have changed, and in the modern era, IC cards can be read normally with a smartphone. It's an era where you don't need a special card reader and electronic filing is possible with just your My Number and a smartphone. I was moved by the fact that this is what IT transformation is all about. Thank you, technological innovation.

So, when I selected e-Tax electronic filing on freee, a QR code was displayed to install the necessary app on my smartphone. It seems the apps to install differ between iOS and Android.

Trying to register for e-Tax

As I proceeded on the computer, it said, "Let's obtain a User Identification Number." It seems the User Identification Number is what becomes your e-Tax ID. In other words, the registration for e-Tax starts from here. Whoa!

I entered "Writer" for "Type of Work," and below that, "Trade Name." Trade name? YAGOU. What is that?

I see, so it's like a signboard for doing business. Come to think of it, when I mentioned filing a business opening notification, my husband asked, "What are you going to use for your Yago?" and I didn't understand what he meant. Illicit union? No, that can't be right (sorry). He meant a trade name (yago). Ignorance is scary.

For some time now, our family's official character has been "Ponta" the raccoon dog. That's also my icon on note. LINE stickers are now on sale (by the way, this is the fourth set). I also quietly run an Instagram account.

Naturally, I decided it had to be related to Ponta, so I consulted with my husband and we made a decision. Oh, you want to know what I chose? That's a secret (Wait, you're not going to tell me?). I'm in the middle of making a logo too, but I wonder if the day will ever come to use it.

Once I entered the trade name and continued the process, I was suddenly whisked away to the official e-Tax website. It was like one of those "Don't push it, don't push it... BOOM!" moments. It was so sudden that I went "Huh!?", but I kept my cool and continued the operation. Once I set the password, the e-Tax registration was finished in no time. It was so fast that I didn't really understand what I had finished registering, though.

I recommend keeping a note of your "User Identification Number" and "Password" or printing them out for safekeeping.

Let's! Electronic filing!

Now that the preparations for electronic filing are complete, it's finally time to submit the business opening notification. I have my My Number card ready and have confirmed my signature password (I assume you have set both a long password and a 4-digit one for your My Number, and it's the long one).

Since I was using my computer up until the e-Tax registration, a QR code appeared on the screen. It seems I'm supposed to do it from my smartphone from here on. When I scanned the QR code with my phone, it took me to the electronic filing screen. After scanning the IC chip on my My Number card and entering my signature password, the application was completed in a flash.

A warning here! A very important warning! After scanning the IC card and entering the password, keep the My Number card in place until the operation is complete! You must keep it in the scanning position. I removed my My Number card as soon as the IC card scan was finished and tried to enter the password while it was removed, but I kept getting rejected by an error. Over and over again. It didn't seem like the password authentication was failing, so I kept asking myself "Why? Why?" and after trying many times, I realized that you must not remove the My Number card until the very end. Hey, you should have told me! It makes a loud "beep!" sound when the scan is finished, so you'd think it's okay to remove it!! Seeing as there's no specific warning about this, am I the only one who tripped up here...?

Anyway, the electronic filing for the business opening notification is complete! Yippee! You can check if your registration has been accepted by logging into e-Tax or by connecting to e-Tax from the Myna Portal on your smartphone. If it has been accepted, a message should have arrived in your message box.

To be continued | Next up is "I tried filing for an invoice"

It ended up being longer than I thought, but I would like to report here that I have officially opened my business. Well, the tax return I finished today was a blue-form return, though...

Tax-related documents are truly troublesome, and they are all things that make you want to suspect, "You're making this difficult on purpose, aren't you!?" That's why I really felt how convenient accounting software is. Plus, the fact that they handle the business opening for free makes them nothing short of gods, oh gods. So, having fallen right into their trap (?), I finished my tax return using the paid freee accounting software, but next time I plan to talk about invoices. I will report on how I finished the procedures for an invoice-issuing business for this coming October.

This is completely unrelated, but I'll end this post by showing you a funny pop sign I found at a supermarket called Espot in Isehara City, where I went on business today.